Thursday, the USD 428 Board of Education met at a noon meeting at Great Bend Middle School.  Principal David Reiser and staff  took the opportunity to update board members of committee efforts of the school’s Professional Learning Communities model.  
Alicia Frazer, art teacher, chairs the Parent  and Community Involvement Committee.  In addition to improving the methods and effectiveness of communication between teachers and parents and the school and the community, the committee is seeking to determine the correlation between parent involvement with Family Access and outcomes for students.  Family Access is an online program designed to allow parents to keep real-time tabs on their student’s academic progress.  In order to increase the number of parents utilizing the program (the majority of parents currently are not), the committee organized a Family Access training at the last parent teacher conferences, where they taught parents how to log in and monitor their children’s assignments and grades.  Frazer said the committee is working on smart goals for Family Access and other parental involvement opportunities.
Bobbi Jo Grieb,  science teacher, heads the Culture of Learning committee.  She had positive feedback on how teachers are utilizing the extra 10 minutes added to the school day, part of a board experiment to reduce the length of the school year by increasing the amount of time teachers spend with students each day.  
Grieb said the 10 minutes are utilized every morning, which allows teachers to promote Panther Pride lessons with students on a daily basis.  Friday is Panther Pride day, where students are exposed to Film Clips for Character Education, an online program that uses clips and teaser questions and activities to promote conversation about good citizenship.  
“I love the 10 minutes every morning,” Grieb said.  “Last year, only seeing them 20 minutes at the end of the week made it hard to help.”  
Keith Moeder spoke about the Equity and Opportunity committee, and Kylee McDonald spoke about the Curriculum and Assessment committee also.

Riley HVAC bids
Two companies submitted bids for the proposed HVAC project at Riley Elementary School.    On Feb. 18, L.S.T. Engineers, the firm representing the district, facilitated the opening of the bids.  
Central Air Conditioning Company of Wichita bid $656,900, and are currently installing a Mitsubishi system in Cimarron.
Glassman Corporation of Hays, however, won with a bid  of $629,000, which included the required Mitsubishi training required for the crew in order to protect the district’s warranty with Mitsubishi.  The company has done work for the district in the past.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Khris Thexton, Director of Finance said.  “You get to a time when the maintenance on the heating and air conditioning is more of a problem than it’s worth.”
Work will begin during spring break, allowing the company to complete some “behind the scenes” work early, Thexton said.  Work is expected to be completed by or before July 31.  The bid specified every day past the deadline would cost Glassman a $500 penalty.

New calendar
Superintendent Tom Vernon followed up on efforts to develop a calendar for the 2014-2015 school year.  The committee removed the 188-day calendar from the list of those up for review, so now patrons and teachers can choose between five possibilities on the district website, www.usd428.net.  The committee will share details from the public survey at the next regular meeting on March 10.   A decision can be made at that time, or further review can be requested.  

Other items discussed and actions taken include:

*  Board member Dwight Young requested an update on legislative efforts to unfund Common Core.  Vernon reported the bill did not make it past committee.
*  Young also inquired about SB 211, an effort to make changes to elections for school board members.  The Kansas Association of School Boards opposes the bill, and Vernon urged board members to contact Rep. John Edmonds and Sen. Mitch Holmes for more information about the progress of the bill.  
*  The board approved two licensed personnel retirements.  Mrs. Millie Hill, school nurse at Eisenhower, Jefferson and Riley Elementary schools will retire at the end of the current school year.  Mrs. Donna Rusco,  fifth grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary, will also retire at the end of the current school year.  
*  The board also approved the resignation of three teachers:  Ms. Jestin Blake, second grade teacher at Riley Elementary, Mr. Bo Black, physical education teacher and coach of varsity football at Great Bend High School, and Ms. Monica Reza, math teacher at Great Bend Middle School.  

The board met in a 15 minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel.  No action was taken.  The next regular meeting will be at 5 p.m. on March 10 at the district offices.